Chicago O’Hare’s Cancellations & Reputation As An Unreliable Airport

Yesterday, the 23rd of December (one of the busiest travel days of the year) Chicago O’Hare (ORD) retained its reputation as a somewhat unreliable airport hub, especially when flying in the winter. As weather began to delay air traffic yesterday, thousands of passengers took to the skies, except from Chicago O’Hare. At O’Hare 22% of the flights scheduled into, or out of, this major international airport hub were canceled. .

How bad can 22% be? The total number of flights scheduled to depart, or arrive at, Chicago O’Hare yesterday was 2,474. Of these 2,474 flights, 548 were cancelled. These 548 cancelled flights leave placement flights out of place, passengers stranded, airlines struggling to move passengers into limited seats on already books flights, and in generally causes havoc that will last for days.

Yesterday’s cancellations have already caused the cancellation of more than 100 flights today, bringing the total number of flights over a 2-day span to more than 650!

What makes Chicago O’Hare so unreliable in the winter? The weather and other logistical oddities. In 2007 Chicago O’Hare was ranked as the worst major airport in the United States for delays, at more than 30% of flights being delayed.

When booking flights, in particular when you need to get where you are going, look at your options. Chicago O’Hare is a dominating Airport Hub. O’Hare is home to both United Airlines and American Airlines. If you prefer to fly with either United or American, consider flying routes through their other hubs, such as Washington Dulles or Denver on United, and Dallas-Ft. Worth for American.

I don’t dislike O’Hare, but I never count on O’Hare. I have been delayed all over the map, having slept in airports from Bahrain to Boston and London to Los Angeles, but I have done more pacing, napping and waiting at O’Hare than anywhere else. There have been times I wanted to fly United, but chosen another carrier to avoid flying through O’Hare on certain routes. As a general rule I try not to fly through O’Hare between November and April because the airport is unreliable.

It will take days to move passengers, correct aircraft placements. Worse for the airlines and the airport is the consistent public relations damage done by stranding passengers in the days leading up to Christmas, with many passengers missing Christmas Eve with their loved ones.

Planning your flight connections is simple logistics and knowing which airports are the most reliable and the most unreliable should be an important consideration when traveling on a deadline.

This is another black-eye for an airport that has faced many public relations black-eyes in the past and its timing could not be more inopportune.

Happy Flying….unless you’re at O’Hare in which case, walk over to the CTA station and take a train over to Midway (MDW) which is putting planes in the air.

Pingbacks

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[…] global hub at Chicago O’Hare International Airport, which over the past few years has alone averaged 30% of all flights being delayed. Outside the serious delay issues United faces at O’Hare it moves considerable international […]

Comments

… unless you live outside Chicago, in which any airport (O’Hare, Midway, or even Milwaukee’s Mitchell) is going to have weather delays.

I prefer to fly out of O’Hare purely for direct-route options. Flying out of Midway generally means a second-tier airline with a layover, best case. Mitchell may have first-tier airlines, but almost always ends up with a layover. Flying O’Hare, however, generally gets me a direct flight 95% of the time. In the past year, I’ve flown to Orlando, Denver, Tulsa, Wichita, and others, all direct.

I do not deny that all airports have delays, all airports have cancellations and all airports have unforeseen weather conditions.

I do agree that ORD is a good airport for non-stop global connections. ORD is convenient for routes to both Asia and Europe, and I have flown Tokyo/NRT-ORD quite a few times due to the easy connection to flights home (once I exit Immigrations and hop the tram-system to the terminal with domestic flights).

What I am addressing in my post is for those not based in Chicago, and how unreliable ORD is consistently year after year with winter travel. Yes, there was a winter storm this week, but Midway kept flying as did MKE. Both airports had delays, but they flew, however neither MDW or MKE is a major hub, and neither airport offers connections in the way ORD does.

For flyers who have options, seeking connections through other airports is overall a more reliable and viable option. I have even flown Air Canada, connecting through Montreal and Toronto when flying to California simply to avoid Chicago O’Hare in Jan/Feb.

About Me

Fish has been covering aviation and transportation security issues since September 15, 2001, after walking away from Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan following four days of documenting the worst aviation security disaster in history.

Having spent more than a decade-and-a-half as a full-time photojournalist, Fish now divides his time between building social media and social commerce strategies and solutions for global travel brands, along with researching aviation and transportation security.

Growing up at the end up New York's JFK International Airport's Runway 4R/22L probably explains Fish’s enjoyment of watching planes fly overhead. When not working or shooting photos, Fish can be found playing with (and cleaning up after) his three kids, chasing his dogs, standing in the kitchen cooking, monitoring radios public safety and federal radios and of course cheering for the Red Sox.

You can find Fish on Twitter at @flyingwithfish …and … join Fish every Thursday at 3:30pm EST as he hosts the weekly #TNI #Travel Chat on Twitter.